Voice actors
One of the advances in puppetry developed by Supermarionation was the synchronisation of the characters' lips with their voices. This was developed using a small solenoid inside the puppet's head, which fired in time with the voice. All the voices were provided by a relatively small number of actors. Sylvia Anderson Sylvia Anderson, the wife of Gerry and co-producer of Fireball, provided the voice for Dr Venus. She was born in London, the daughter of a champion boxer and a dressmaker. She studied sociology and political Science at the London School of Economics, and began work as a social worker. She married American golfer Jack Brooks in 1946 and moved to the USA. She had a daughter, Dee, with him but when they divorced she moved back to the UK. She remarried in 1952 to George Thamm, which also resulted in divorce. She joined Polytechnic Films as an office assistant in 1957 which was where she met Gerry Anderson, who was then an editor and director. After Polytechnic collapsed, she joined Gerry Anderson and Arthur Provis when they created AP Films, joining them on the board of directors of the new company. She married for a third time in 1960 to Gerry Anderson, with whom she had a son, Gerry Anderson Jr before divorcing in 1980. She provided many female voices for Anderson productions and also directed the studio recording sessions. John Bluthal Australian John Bluthal moved to the UK in 1959. He was born in Poland in 1928 but he and his family moved to Australia when he was ten years old, escaping from the Nazi invasion of their country. He studied drama at the University of Melbourne and gained experience on stage and in radio plays. In later years he was known for his work with great comedians like Spike Milligan and Eric Sykes and was the co-star of the long running series about a pair of tailors, Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width. He also played bumbling Frank Pickle in the popular BBC series The Vicar of Dibley. In Fireball XL5, he provided the voice for Commander Zero and a host of other characters. He died in 2018 in New South Wales, his last film appearance being with his daughter earlier that same year. David Graham David Graham is a Supermarionation stalwart, having provided voices for earlier productions including Four Feather Falls, Supercar, Stingray, Thunderbirds and, of course, Fireball XL5. He was also in demand for the BBC's Doctor Who, where he was one of the original voices of the Daleks, as well as playing a number of other roles. He trained as an actor in New York, but worked mostly on British TV on popular series including Danger Man, The Saint, Timeslip, Howard's Way, Softly Softly and many others Even though he is now in his nineties, he is still reprising his role as Lady Penelope's chauffeur Parker in the rebooted series Thunderbirds Are Go. Paul Maxwell The voice of Steve Zodiac was provided by Canadian actor Paul Maxwell, who studied at Yale and had worked on American TV in series like Dragnet and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. He moved to the UK in the early sixties and soon picked up plenty of work from British TV producers keen to have a genuine transatlantic accent. He was best known in Britain for playing Steve Tanner, in the long running soap opera Coronation Street, where he was married to Elsie Tanner. He had a successful career in British TV in series such as Danger Man, The Baron and Randall and Hopkirk Deceased. He had roles in movies as well, including The Pink Panther Strikes Again and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He died in 1991, aged 70. Gerry Anderson The final voice actor was none other than Gerry Anderson himself, who provided the voice for Robert the Robot, using an artificial larynx to provide the android's buzzing tones. Category:Real World Category:Crew